For his fourth birthday, I made my son an Incredible Hulk cake. His hope was for a 3D Hulk, an edible version of his favourite plastic toy. My plan was for a Hulk’s head impressive enough to make up for the fact that he didn’t have any limbs or muscles. Even this limited version proved too much of a challenge, however, and I ended up sticking a plastic model of the incredible one on to a round, green cake. After looking confused, Luca was surprisingly happy with his leaning Hulk, until a candle melted his plastic elbow.
There was a birthday girl, too, so two sets of candles were lit, happy birthday sung in two languages and two cakes cut into slices. My green cake with foot marks remained pretty much intact, while the other disappeared square by square into small and large mouths alike. And with good reason: that second cake was what the other mum described as a torta versata con crema, which translates as a “poured cake”, but is best described as two light sponge cakes filled with custard. At first I thought the filling was added after baking, but as I ate my second tender slice, she explained that, after cooking one baked layer of sponge, the custard is spread over it and the rest of the batter poured on top, before the whole thing is baked again. Cake with a baked heart of custard – words as soothing as custard itself.
